UNC men’s hoops falls at Butler

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The University of Northern Colorado men's basketball team found out the hard way how valuable depth and good shooting are on Saturday night.

The Bears, in their season opener and career opener for first-year coach Jeff Linder, faltered in the second half in a nonconference 89-52 road loss to Butler University at Hinkle Fieldhouse before a crowd of 7,836.

The Bears kept it close in the first half, but some paltry shooting from the free-throw line left them playing catch-up.

"As I told the guys in the locker room, take away the free throws that we missed and it's pretty much an even half," Linder said in a news release. "Now, maybe they didn't come out ready to go, but we took the first punch and then we punched back. We told the guys that they were going to get the real Butler in the second half."

They did.

The Bulldogs outscored UNC 48-21 in the second half and opened up a consistent lead as they shot 70 percent for a long period of time in the second half on their way to 53.3 overall.

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UNC shot just 28 percent from the floor in the second half and was 0 for 7 from beyond the arc.

"We did some pretty good things tonight," Butler coach Chris Holtmann said in a news release. "That sounds like a broken record because you've heard it before. We are very much a work in progress."

After yielding 20 points to UNC guard Jordan Davis in the first half, the Bulldogs limited him to just five points on two shot attempts in the second half.

Davis was UNC's only double-digit scorer, and was 10 for 13 from the free-throw line before exiting with cramps.

Butler guards Tyler Lewis and Kamar Baldwin had their way at the offensive end, both scoring in double figures in the second half en route to 16 and 11 points, respectively.

Kelan Martin led the Bulldogs with 21 points.

The Bulldogs were 9 for 29 from downtown while the Bears only sank four howitzers, two from Chaz Glotta (9 points).

"We didn't meet the challenge tonight," Linder said in reference to facing a top 25 team from a year ago.

However, Linder felt his team took a step in the right direction.

"It really hurts because Jordan Davis, as good as he was in the first half, goes down because it really stalls our offense," Linder added. "A lot of it's based off what he does and he showed what he can do against a very, very good defensive team."

The Bears will return home for a 7 p.m. nonconference game against Division II Colorado Christian University Wednesday at Bank of Colorado Arena.